All New Atom 12, Cable and Deadpool 41-42, Captain America 27, Fantastic Four #547, Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special, Iron Man 18-19, Irredeemable Ant-Man 9, Moon Knight 11, Ms. Marvel 16, New Avengers 31, New Excalibur 20, The Spirit 7
All New Atom #12
With this issue we're somewhat back to normal, if "normal" can really refer to what happens in Ivytown. Good read. I like this Atom. I hope he sticks around somewhere after the return of Ray Palmer.
Cable and Deadpool #41-42
A pretty good balance of Cable and Deadpool, with the Cable bits less annoying than he sometimes tends to be. I'm not yet to the point of caring what happens next to Cable, but I am curious, which is something.
Captain America #27
You know me--I almost never have a bad thing to say about this book. But I did find the Winter Soldier/Black Widow thing to be a little neat--I mean, everyone doesn't have to know everyone--however, it was nicely done, and not as over-the-top as these revelations can sometimes be so I won't say much more than that about it.
I also think that Natasha--having had how many more decades of active fighting experience than Bucky?--ought to have been able to beat him, but that's a minor quibble, as the match was close and it is, at this point, pretty much his book (along with Sharon and Falcon, of course). Now if he shows up in Mighty Avengers and takes her down, then I'll complain.
Oh, and I like Sharon's new outfit! Very Emma Peel!
Fantastic Four #547
Decent read. The "this is my real hair!" exchange between Ben and Ororo was kind of funny, but seemed a bit out of character for Storm. Then again, I haven't read any title featuring her in 10 or 15 years, so perhaps at this point it isn't. I did, however, enjoy the exchange between Reed and Hank Pym--that alone was worth the cover price.
Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special
I enjoyed this very much overall. Seeing the GL Corps, the down time on Oa, the resentment some Corps members still feel towards Hal Jordan, the total cool of John Stewart.
Of course the part of the book that grabbed my attention the most was at the end--the part focusing on Kyle. The notion of Ion as an entity separate from Kyle? I like it. This is because, while I like Kyle, I don't like Kyle as Ion, and I'd be thrilled to see him back at normal GL power level. It's not the degree of power that makes a Lantern special, it's the way in which they use that power. Here's hoping for a short run as Parallax and a long one back as a regular Lantern.
Iron Man #18-19
Aw, man, they killed Sal! He and Dugan have been the best reasons to read this book lately, so that's pretty disappointing. As was Dugan's commentary on Fury vs. Stark, calling Fury "ruthless" and "pragmatic," seeing things as they are while Tony sees them as they could be. Personally I'd say that lately Tony has been pretty ruthless and pragmatic himself, so I'm not seeing the point in its entirety.
And then, my first look at the World War Hulk thing. It does not make me want to run out and get the rest of it.
Irredeemable Ant-Man #9
Hah! Just when you think that Eric is starting to become a little bit less of an asshole, just when you start to find him sympathetic, even--bam!
I'm actually quite saddened that this book will be cancelled after issue 12. it's not at all the kind of comic I usually love, but love it I do.
Moon Knight #11
The highlights in this issue, for me, were the scenes between Marc and Marlene. It does seem odd to be rooting for the hero not to get the girl. But I'm thinking...
What seems to be going on: The Profile tells Marc how to get Marlene to love him again--"just tell her how you feel." Marc then gives it a shot and fails utterly--as Marlene says, "Funny, I thought you told me what you want from me. Strange how I missesd the part where you told me how you feel." (Marc doesn't understand--he can't separate the two.) Later we see Marlene leaving her work with her boyfriend, and Marc accosts the two, insulting Marlene by saying she's using her young companion to recapture her fading youth. Looks like he tried to follow The Profile's advice but just wasn't capable of doing so, and reacted with anger when it didn't work.
But what I'm wondering is this: It seems to me that "just tell her what you feel" is pretty superficial, straightforward advice from The Profile, who seems to specialize in more Machiavellian techniques. What if we didn't see the entire exchange between him and Marc? What if the insult to Marlene was the real advice given to Marc? Marc just wants her back, he doesn't care how it's done, and "tell her what you feel" isn't likely to draw her back into an emotionally manipulative (abusive?) relationship. But to cut at her self-esteem, that might make some impact.
I hope Marlene is stronger than that.
Ms. Marvel #16
Okay. First, the fact that Carol had to kiss Simon in order to halt his murderous rampage--a tactic straight out of bad fan fiction, by the way--probably says more about where her mind has been lately than anything else. I mean, would she have used the same technique on M.O.D.O.K.?
And before anyone says it, I can go out on the back porch, dig through the longboxes containing the orginal run of Ms. Marvel, and pull out an actual comic with a picture of Carol kissing M.O.D.O.K. That image was burned into my brain when I was a teenager, I don't need to refresh that memory :).
New Avengers #31
Now that I've seen the famous scene in which Wong asks Jess why she isn't breastfeeding, I'd say that it looks like he is in fact only asking because the not-breastfeeding is a new thing. That makes more sense given Wong's sense of propriety. No opinion yet on whether it's Jess or the baby who's the problem.
I liked the interaction between Spiderman and Ronin/Hawkeye. Speaking of whom...
Ronin/Hawkeye may have a problem working with this group. He has a long history of being opposed to killing--remember when his wife, Mockingbird, simply failed to save the life of the villain who had mind-controlled and seduced her? I'm not sure if Clint ever did forgive her before her death. He may have mellowed since then, but is he likely to work well with a group including Spider-Woman and Wolverine, both of whom consider killing a valid if extreme option?
New Excalibur #20
Off the get list. Just not holding my interest, primarily because I can't seem to care about the characters.
The Spirit #7
This issue features three separate stories not by the regular writer/artist. They weren't bad. The second tale was IMO the best--an incredible job of capturing the feel of some of the original Eisner strips. Eisner had a way of using supporting characters, bystanders, to create mood and to drive the plot. It's not the sort of character-focused story we're used to in our hero books, but it works, and it has a real charm. I could definitely read more like this.
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